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296 of 318 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One MP3 Player that will Rule them ALL, December 16, 2004
I am writing this review as I listen to U2 - Hasta La Vista Baby album on my iRiver H320...the sound is amazing. I have owned an eDigital Treo 15, then upgraded to a Creative Labs Zen Jukebox 20 w/FM Tuner. When I decided to upgrade, I took over 4 months researching for my next generation 1GB+ mp3 player purchase. What I was looking for was something that had storage space, on-board FM Tuner, recording capabilities and most importantly great sound. I considered Rio Karma, Creative Muvo2 w/hack 2GB CF card, iPod Mini, iPod, iPod Picture and a slew of other mp3 players available outside of the USA. I know some of my considerations didn't have all of the above, but I would have sacrificed space for sound, functionality for looks...etc. But just in the last few weeks, I came across this website www.misticriver.net . It is _THE_ user forum for iRiver products. I considered their mp3 flash devices, but not their hard drive based device, until I read their thread on how the H320/H340 can play video if you flash the bios with the European or the Korean or the Japanese bios upgrade. My jaw dropped! And it is still dropped...and I'm still drooling. You have to understand....I'm a closet geek. I like my electronic toys, I do my research and I recommend the heck out of products that impress me. I am going to do this now. First things first...go to the webpage above and read it for yourself. The H320/H340 plays converted video files. That's right!!! Convert your DVD's to AVI files; transfer then to your H320/340 and boom....play your videos on your MP3 player. The website tells you exactly how to do it. I addition to DVD's, I've converted several hour episodes of Stargate shows and have watched them on my H320. I've got a whole slew of them queued up for my 4 hour flight to LA. So with that amazing ability out of the way, I'll briefly review the H320/H340 for you. Out of the neat package comes a shiny black brick with a big 2" COLOR screen. It comes with earbud headphones, protective ballistic nylon case, AC power supply, USB2.0 cable, audio cord (line-out) and cd-rom and nice instruction book. IT DOES NOT COME with a docking station, LCD remote or the external battery pack...all of which you can buy from the iriver store. Charged the unit for 2.5 hours and plugged the USB2.0 cord into the slot labelled `data', it connected at USB2.0 speeds (the one labeled media is USB1.1 and is intended for connectivity with Windows Media Player). I first upgraded the BIOS to something that is NON-US. After reboot, the new bios took immediately. I lost the functionality of a clock on the H320, but that's ok...I have a watch. I lost the ability to manage my music with Windows Media Player....that is ok..I prefer to arrange my own music with other programs. But I did gain the ability to play videos and the USB1.1 port turned into a USB on the GO, which you can connect to other USB ported devices (like digital cameras) and transfer files from those devices-I haven't used USB2Go yet, but it does look promising. I quickly scanned over the Owner's Manual, turned on the H320. I connected as anoher hard drive device WITHOUT having to install any additional drivers. I proceeded to load MJ's Number Ones as my test music, since he has a variety of sounds to test the H320. Speed was fast. Unplugged the H320 from my computer and plugged in my Sony MDR-EX51LP (sound isolation ear buds for $40). Hit the ON button...then hit NAV to navigate to the mp3's I downloaded...and was amazed at what the stock sound from the H320 sounded like. WOW. So I tweaked the sound a bit..increased the base..it has SRS(WOW) settings, so you can tweak the low-mid-high ends of the music as well as increase the thump. Very cool. Even at the default level 20 (30 is the highest), it was pretty loud. Very very impressed. So then I loaded a `converted' episode of Stargate Atlantis and started to watch it; very very smooth video display as well as great sound. Anything can be converted to AVI for this player as long as you have CODECs for conversion. And then I loaded some of my pictures onto my H320, they weren't formatted for the h320 display so they weren't awesome, but good enough to show off! But when I reformatted my pictures for the H320 the pictures turned out awesome on the 2" display. Again the visual display is beautiful. ID3 tags (or not) show up nicely as well as volume strength display for both ears (a mini spectrum analyzer?) So navigating the device Set-up menu, you can set the FM-Tuner regions, LCD contrast, LCD brightness, LCD power off, ways of ID3 tag scrolling, sleep-stop-standby power down times, types of shuffle, repeats, random, set the study mode that allows you to fast forward through songs and videos and much much more! The battery time has been tested..if you play mp3's only with SRS off and very minimal LCD use, you can go to 15 hours. The average seems to be 9 hours, I've had mine on all night plugged into my home receiver through the line out port and playing. The rechargeable lithium-ion battery is replacable, take out a few screws and you are set. There is a HOLD button. Also it charges off of USB cable to your pc/laptop. There is a small learning curve to the buttons, and I must say its not as smooth as the touch pad of the iPods, but I prefer to have some tactile feedback when I hit the buttons. So, now I don't have to buy a media player for the plane, nor do I have to drag out my laptop to play dvd's..just convert them at home (which takes a bit of time..but lots of support online on how to do it right) and load them on my player before a plane ride. The H320 is bigger than the regular iPod but smaller than the iPod Picture. It fits nicely in the palm of my hand, doesn't feel flimsy at all. I haven't tried to record voice yet, but people say its pretty crisp and the default mic pics up everything. In addition, you can record from FM Tuner as well as record from Line In (mic or other audio devices). The FM tuner (with autoscan and store of stations) picked up 20 FM channels, my stock car stereo only picked up 14 channels. It can also read text files. I'm not sure where iRiver is going with that...could be interesting. So, the NEGATIVES (more like annoying to me) things about the H320/340. 1) I must be a greasy guy, because I'm cleaning the finger prints from it a bit 2) coverting the videos to AVI can get time consuming at first, but once you get it right, its set-it-and-forget-it 3) I bought a 20GB one 4) the US VERSION doesn't play videos UNLESS you flash the bios to another region BIOS-Korea is the best here 5) it didn't come with a power/USB docking station, but you can get one for $30 6) the case/holder only protects. That's about it...just annoying things to me that can be quickly resolved with $$ or reading around on the internet. If you are already reading this far, you are doing your research and doing a little bit more reading at http://www.misticriver.net will give you all the information you would ever need to make an informed decision. I don't hate iPod at all, I'm a bit jealous for the styling, but now after XMAS 2004, everyone will have one; but not everyone will have a iRiver H320/340 THAT PLAYS VIDEOS!!!!!!! I would recommend you go to your local Best Buy and get a feel for it. The sales people at BestBuy will tell you to by iPod. They won't tell you anything about the iRiver and how you can flash the bios and play videos on it, and all of this for $300 for H320 and about $400 for the H340. I'm sorry this has been a long post, but I just can't stop talking about this thing.
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109 of 118 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
the smart money goes on the iriver h320/340, November 29, 2004
I've read the reviews here and I'm generally in accord with what everyone says about this machine.
Visually I find this player stunning. It's very well finished, the carbon look is great.
One reviewer wrote that it took a long time to boot up. This is caused by having lots of files in the root directory. You can fix this by keeping your music in directories. I create a directory for the musician, then a directory for the album. That way it starts fast(er) and I can navigate easily to the music I want to listen to.
Using the data usb connection, copying music is extremely fast.
Navigating for me, isn't as bad as some say. The most needed functions are right there; click nav to navigate to what you want.. and play to play it. This is really all you need to do 95% of the time.
The US version of this player is quite cut down on what you can buy in Europe and that is a shame. The EU model comes with a charging base and a remote control (I believe), along with something called 'USB on the go' which I haven't quite figured out. I'm inclined to think the US model has been 'dumbed down' and the accessories removed to make the price competitive. Having said that, you are getting a whole lot for your $$$.
Anyone interested in this player should take a look at misticriver.net. There's some excellent FAQs there which will explain the best way to do things (like directory structure for your music).
This is a wonderful machine. An Ipod was never an option for me with their insistence on using iTunes to transfer music. Support for OGG is very welcome here too. There are also OEM cases available (vaja makes one for instance) that are really good quality.
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50 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Diamond in the Rough, November 28, 2004
Like everybody, I wanted an mp3 player. However, I was hesitant to drop the $300 bucks for a tiny electronic device without doing sufficient research. At first I was only looking at the two most popular of the mp3 players - the iPod and the Zen touch. Immediately I realized that for some reason that each side of the spectrum has rabid, biased, partisan fans. There's the iPodophiles and the Zen Buddhists that practically worship the thing. Back and forth they argued on every internet forum, on every comments page about which of the two were better. Well after reading countless head-to-heads I came to the conclusion I would get the iPod. However, if it weren't for a techy friend of mine nearly biting my head off having overlooked the iRiver - a more techno-savvy but vastly superior mp3 player - I would have never found this diamond in the rough.
I did some research and discovered that the only real gripe was the difficulty of the user interface - which is a valid gripe. It is much more complicated than that of the iPod or Zen Touch. Hand an iPod to a war vet and he'll pick up the gyst of it in no time. Hand the same man an iRiver and he'll likely use it as a cup-holder. It takes some getting used to. However, the following is the conclusion I came to:
People get used to anything. After doing some research I discovered the amazing features of the iRiver that seemed to be lacking from the iPod or Zen touch. For instance, the iRiver has a color screen - something you learn to love. I never realized the importance color makes over black-and-white monotony that the iPod and Zen sport. After witnessing the beauty of the iRivers color screen it makes me gag even looking at the bland iPod interface. Also, the iRiver has an FM tuner! This is a major plus (especially in the mornings when all I really want to listen to is NPR). The iRiver also has a recorder (something that actually HAS proven handy). Additionally, and amazingly, the iRiver has a photo storage/viewer feature which is ENORMOUSLY handy for someone like me who is both an avid photographer and graphic designer. Can't stop yet, though! The iRivers sound quality and headphones are breahtaking. Can't stop yet, though! One of the BIGGEST draws was that the battery life is TWICE as long as that of the iPod's (though not as long as that of the Zens). While yes, the iRiver is a little bigger than the iPod - the few centimeters was a sacrifice I was more than willing to make for 8 more hours.
All this for the same price!
Reviewing the situation makes me baffled when I think that the iPod is widely regarded as the "paradigm" of mp3 players. To be honest, I recommend the iRiver for anybody who is even in the LEAST bit technologically inclined (pretty much only excluding soccer moms and war veterans these days). It is such a vastly superior mp3 player that it's made me a believer in this whole mp3-player-craze. It's become my favorite personal electronic device.
I give the iRiver my highest recommendation.
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